Cape Town has long been loved by visitors for its dramatic scenery, its vibrant restaurant scene and its proximity to one of the world’s greatest wine regions. But in the last few years, the city’s appeal has expanded yet further, with the regeneration of former industrial areas into super-cool hotspots filled with designer stores, coffee bars, street art and restaurants.
The opening of the Silo (which houses both a hotel and the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa) has added to the buzz. “Cape Town is now a really exciting place,” says Rodger Bowren, who specialises in showing Scott Dunn guests around the city and surrounding areas. Brought up on a farm near Durban, he’s full of enthusiasm for his adopted home: “There’s so much going on here. The first Thursday of the month, for example, lots of galleries and cultural events are free and open late. People walk between locations and it has a kind of festival feel – it’s a very cool vibe. I’ve been here two years, and things have changed a lot. Cape Town is actually a very small city, and the centre is very saturated. So people started moving out to these old industrial areas, such as Woodstock. When I do a city tour for people who don’t know Cape Town at all, we start in the main heart of the city and work our way down to Woodstock, then to the suburbs and beaches like Camps Bay. People get a whole perspective of how the city is changing.”
Scott Dunn can organise anything you want in the city and surrounding countryside, from foodie experiences to art tours and walks on the wild side. “We like our guests to experience things a bit differently,” Bowren says, “so if we do a hike to a well-known mountain, we have our own individual spots and routes, so you feel like you’re there all by yourself.”
If it’s a full moon, he suggests joining the walk up Lion’s Head. “People climb the mountain with headlamps, so you see a spiral of lights going up to the top. It’s very beautiful.”